The Official Conference Realignment Rumors Thread

[Birds of B'more]

I can't imagine the Men's Baseball team (or any non-revenue sport) would enjoy traveling from Waco, TX to Storrs, CT for a Fri/Sat/Sun series. That's some serious travel time and time out of school for 18-22 year olds.

If/when Baylor finally grasps that the Big XII is FUBAR, and they cannot hold the conference against its will like Sonny Wortzik, they'll realize a weekend trip to Storrs, CT beats the paltry revenue checks they'd receive in C-USA or MWC.

[OregonBird]

If/when Baylor finally grasps that the Big XII is FUBAR, and they cannot hold the conference against its will like Sonny Wortzik, they'll realize a weekend trip to Storrs, CT beats the paltry revenue checks they'd receive in C-USA or MWC.

Who is Sonny Wortzik? Some old, pop culture reference from the 70s.

Who are you, Dennis Miller? lol....

Once all the teams are done moving around, there are going to be a few schools that get royally screwed.

BTW, any information on how the Big 12 shares the revenue?

[Birds of B'more]

Who is Sonny Wortzik? Some old, pop culture reference from the 70s.

Who are you, Dennis Miller? lol....

Once all the teams are done moving around, there are going to be a few schools that get royally screwed.

BTW, any information on how the Big 12 shares the revenue?

I was trying to come up with a good hostage reference....what can I say, I'm old.

Big XII shares TV revenues from its OTA (ABC) and cable (FOX) contracts based on the number of TV appearances made by each team. So naturally Baylor is near the bottom of the food chain. Of course with fewer teams that means their take will be larger in terms of actual payout. And now that they are a ranked team with an exciting player like RG-III, they may be making more appearances as well.

[OregonBird]

I was trying to come up with a good hostage reference....what can I say, I'm old.

Big XII shares TV revenues from its OTA (ABC) and cable (FOX) contracts based on the number of TV appearances made by each team. So naturally Baylor is near the bottom of the food chain. Of course with fewer teams that means their take will be larger in terms of actual payout. And now that they are a ranked team with an exciting player like RG-III, they may be making more appearances as well.

I'm telling you, baseball/softball are great sports if you're an athlete that doesn't want to go to class. Thursday you travel, Fri-Sun you play games. Since you're playing in March you've got a 50/50 shot of 1 game during the series getting rained out so plan on playing on Monday. Then you've got 1-2 non conference games per week. So for 50% of your games you're in class 3 days max during the week. Its only going to get worse if you get these superconferences.

I'm surprised that I haven't seen many articles about the impact on non-revenue sports as well as some of the things that University Presidents care about like access to research funds, academic reputations, etc.

[Birds of B'more]

I'm telling you, baseball/softball are great sports if you're an athlete that doesn't want to go to class. Thursday you travel, Fri-Sun you play games. Since you're playing in March you've got a 50/50 shot of 1 game during the series getting rained out so plan on playing on Monday. Then you've got 1-2 non conference games per week. So for 50% of your games you're in class 3 days max during the week. Its only going to get worse if you get these superconferences.

I'm surprised that I haven't seen many articles about the impact on non-revenue sports as well as some of the things that University Presidents care about like access to research funds, academic reputations, etc.

The non-revenue sports aren't a complete afterthought. They're the reason why I don't think Texas could ever go independent. Travel may become more of a burden now that the footprints are expanding, but even now in many cases it just means you spend another hour on a plane than before....the Pac-10 was already a pretty spread-out conference. And research/academic reputations are actually a much bigger factor than many people think too. One of the reasons Oklahoma likes the idea of being in the Pac-12 is the thought of having their law school associated with the likes of Cal and Stanford. And one of the reasons why the Pac-12 will never take BYU (besides their refusal to play sports on Sundays) is because their religious affiliation prohibits them from being a research institution, which is a must for the Pac.

[PrivateO]

In the race to establish college football’s first true super conference, it appears that the Southeastern Conference (SEC) will, as seems to be the case in most things in recent years, be reaching the finish line first.

The announcement was made this week that Texas A&M would be joining the conference; it was revealed Thursday afternoon that three more teams will be issued formal invitations over the weekend: The University of Oklahoma Sooners from the Big XII conference, the University of West Virginia Mountaineers of the Big East, and the South Florida Bulls, also from the Big East.

http://sportales.com/sports/sec-expansion-announcement/

Personally, I don't buy it. Doesn't go along the lines of the 1 school per state mantra that the SEC has done. FSU would be chosen over USF any day of the week.

[Greg Pappas]

http://sportales.com/sports/sec-expansion-announcement/

Personally, I don't buy it. Doesn't go along the lines of the 1 school per state mantra that the SEC has done. FSU would be chosen over USF any day of the week.

I also would be shocked if this were true. I'll eat crow if it comes to pass as the author proposes, but I think it's simply fantasy.

[Birds of B'more]

http://sportales.com/sports/sec-expansion-announcement/

Personally, I don't buy it. Doesn't go along the lines of the 1 school per state mantra that the SEC has done. FSU would be chosen over USF any day of the week.

I call BS as well.

[Birds of B'more]

http://texas.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1263940

Oklahoma will apply for membership to the Pac-12 before the end of the month, and Oklahoma State is expected to follow suit, a source close to OU's administration told Orangebloods.com.

Even though Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott said Friday the Pac-12 was not interested in expansion at this time, OU's board of regents is fed up with the instability in the Big 12, the source said. The OU board of regents will meet within two weeks to formalize plans to apply for membership to the Pac-12, the source said.

[Pedro Cerrano]

It's hard to believe this happened to the Big 12. I think they've had the best balance of good football and basketball programs than any conference in the nation before all this happened.

[Birds of B'more]

It's hard to believe this happened to the Big 12. I think they've had the best balance of good football and basketball programs than any conference in the nation before all this happened.

The conference's issues have almost nothing to do with their team's performance on the field/court. It's all about the inequality among members and the bad relationships that have emerged because of that. It's no coincidence that the more stable conferences view each of their members as equals, especially when it comes to sharing revenues. You're only as strong as your weakest link.

[Pedro Cerrano]

The conference's issues have almost nothing to do with their team's performance on the field/court. It's all about the inequality among members and the bad relationships that have emerged because of that. It's no coincidence that the more stable conferences view each of their members as equals, especially when it comes to sharing revenues. You're only as strong as your weakest link.

I wasn't aware of any sort of bad relationships, but I guess Texas and Oklahoma are the big fish while Iowa State barely gets a say in anything?

[BaltimoreTerp]

It's hard to believe this happened to the Big 12. I think they've had the best balance of good football and basketball programs than any conference in the nation before all this happened.

I think the difference between the Big 12 and the other conferences is history. The Big 12 in itself is a relative newcomer, formed when the Southwest Conference collapsed and the four Texas schools joined the Big 8, which had its own traditions and identity. As the focus shifted south and centered around the Texas-Oklahoma rivalry instead of decades of Nebraska-Oklahoma domination, Nebraska in particular disliked what they saw and wanted to leave. They figured they could get a better deal in the Big Ten, and when that conference came calling took the leap.

As in all cases in college football, it is all about ego and money. Possibly even in that order.

[Birds of B'more]

I wasn't aware of any sort of bad relationships, but I guess Texas and Oklahoma are the big fish while Iowa State barely gets a say in anything?

Yeah, especially Texas. The irony is that schools like Iowa State, Kansas State and Baylor are content to live with it, because being at the bottom of the ladder in the Big XII still means more money than being an equal in Conference USA. But Nebraska was fed up with Texas' ego for years, and now it looks like the Longhorn Network is the final straw for Texas A&M and Oklahoma too.

[OregonBird]

The conference's issues have almost nothing to do with their team's performance on the field/court. It's all about the inequality among members and the bad relationships that have emerged because of that. It's no coincidence that the more stable conferences view each of their members as equals, especially when it comes to sharing revenues. You're only as strong as your weakest link.

If its true that OU and OSU apply to the Pac 12 then what happens w/Texas? One would think that a reason why Oklahoma is reason is b/c they are tired of Texas' "ego" as well. It would be interesting to leave for the Pac12 only to see their big headed neighbor end up in the same conference with them keeping their network.